1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a coin selector installed in a so-called coin treatment apparatus employable for an automatic vending machine, a coin exchanger, a monetary service unit or the like wherein a coin inserted through a coin insert slit is selectively received and stored depending on the kind of coins and some of the coins which have been selectively received and stored in that way are paid out as a change. More particularly, the present invention relates to a coin selector including a coin selecting section for discriminating whether a coin inserted through the coin insert slit is a true coin or a false coin and then selectively distributing true coin depending on the kind of true coins.
2. Description of the Related Art
To facilitate understanding of the present invention, a typical conventional coin selector will briefly be described below with reference to FIG. 13.
Generally, a conventional coin selector 3 installed in a coin treatment apparatus employable for an automatic vending machine, a coin exchanger, a monetary service unit or the like is constructed as schematically illustrated in FIG. 13, i.e., a sectional view of the coin selector 3.
As shown in FIG. 13, to practically use the coin selector 3 installed in an equipment such as an automatic vending machine or the like, a long coin intake chute 5 is slantwise arranged between a coin insert slit 2 fitted to a door 1 of the equipment and a coin inlet port 4 of the coin selector 3 in such a manner that the upstream end 5a of the coin intake chute 5 is exposed to the coin insert slit 2 and the downstream end 5b of the same is exposed to the coin inlet port 4 of the coin selector 3. With such arrangement of the coin intake chute 5 as described above, when a coin A is inserted into the coin insert slit 2, it is delivered to the coin inlet port 4 of the coin selector 3 at an accelerated speed induced during free-falling of the inserted coin A through the coin intake chute 5 due to its dead weight.
With the conventional coin selector 3 as described above, since the long coin intake chute 5 should slantwise be arranged between the coin insert slit 2 and the coin inlet port 4, a space S occupied in the equipment in the vertical direction for installing the coin selector 3 is enlarged unavoidably. For this reason, especially with respect to an automatic vending machine, there arises another problem that a space required for receiving commercial articles to be sold is restricted or reduced undesirably.
To obviate the foregoing problems, a proposal has been made as to a coin selector constructed in the following manner. In detail, horizontal coin conveying means for forcibly conveying each coin inserted through the coin insert slit 2 in a housing of the proposed coin selector is substituted for the long coin intake chute 5, whereby a space required for installing the coin selector in the equipment such as an automatic vending machine or the like is reduced remarkably.
FIG. 14 is a sectional view which schematically illustrates the structure of a conventional prior art coin selector 10 of the foregoing type including horizontal coin conveying means and installed in an equipment such as an automatic vending machine or the like. As is apparent from the drawing, a space S' occupied in the equipment in the vertical direction for installing the coin selector 10 is substantially equalized to a height H' of the coin selector 10 as measured in the vertical direction. This means that the space reserved exclusively for the coin selector 10 to be installed in the equipment is very small, and moreover, the coin selector 10 itself is constructed in a very compact manner.
The coin selector 10 includes a housing 11 having a substantially inverted L-shaped configuration as seen from the side, and the left-hand end of the housing 11 is secured to a door 1 for the equipment such as an automatic vending machine or the like. A coin insert slit 22 is formed on the door 1.
As shown in FIG. 15, i.e., an enlarged sectional view of FIG. 14, horizontal coin conveying means 24 for forcibly conveying a coin inserted through the coin insert slit 22 in the horizontal direction (in the rightward direction as seen in the drawing) while holding the coin A between a pair of endless belts 27 and 29 as well as a single inclined coin rolling-down passage 25 including coin distributing means (not shown) for selectively distributing coins conveyed from the horizontal coin conveying means 24 depending on the kind of coins are properly arranged in the housing 11 of the coin selector 10.
With the horizontal coin conveying means 24 as described above, when the upper endless belt 27 extending around a group of rollers 26a, 26b, 26c and 26d and the lower endless belt 29 extending around a group of rollers 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d and 28e are recirculatively driven by driving means such an motor or the like (not shown), the coin A inserted through the coin insert slit 22 is forcibly conveyed in the horizontal direction (in the rightward direction in the drawing) while it is held between the pair of endless belts 27 and 29.
Coin discriminating means 32 including a so-called coil sensor composed of an oscillating coil 30 and a signal receiving coil 31 with a predetermined gap therebetween is arranged at an intermediate position of the horizontal coin conveying means 24. The coin discriminating means 32 discriminates whether the coin A which has been forcibly conveyed by the horizontal coin conveying means 24 while it is held between the pair of endless belts 27 and 29 is a true coin or a false coin. In addition, the coin discriminating means 32 discriminates the kind of coins each recognized as a true coin.
In FIG. 15, reference numeral 58 designates a coin distributing lever adapted to be actuated in response to a detection signal transmitted from the coin discriminating means 32. When the coin A conveyed from the horizontal coin conveying means 24 is discriminated as a false coin in response to the detection signal transmitted from the coin discriminating means 32, the coin distributing lever 58 is held at the waiting position represented by solid lines in the drawing. At this time, the false coin A conveyed from the horizontal coin conveying means 24 is conducted to a false coin chute 59 and it is then delivered to a coin pay-out port (not shown). On the contrary, when the coin A conveyed from the horizontal coin conveying means 24 is discriminated as a true coin in response to the detection signal transmitted from the coin discriminating means 32, the coin distributing lever 58 is turnably displaced to the position represented by one-dot chain lines in the drawing. At this time, the true coin A is selectively distributed to the inclined coin rolling-down passage 25 including coin distributing means (not shown) for selectively distributing the true coin A depending on the kind of each true coin.
With respect to the conventional coin selector 10 including the horizontal coin conveying means 24 in the above-described manner, since a group of rollers composed of plural opposing pairs of rollers and a pair of endless belts 27 and 29 constituting the horizontal coin conveying means 24 are immovably arranged in the housing 11 of the coin selector 10, when an inspecting/maintaining operation is performed for the horizontal coin conveying means 24 or a cleaning operation is performed for a group of rollers 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d and 28e as well as the endless belts 27 and 29 extending around the foregoing rollers, a time-consuming operation, i.e., an operation for disassembling the housing 11 of the coin selector 10 should be performed unavoidably. However, there arises a problem that the foregoing operation is very complicated.
In addition, with respect to the conventional coin selector 10 including the horizontal coin conveying means 24 in the above-described manner, since the upstream side of the horizontal coin conveying means 24 is covered with a cover 90 in which the coin insert slit 22 is received, when water drops derived from rain fall or a viscous liquid such as a detergent solution or the like are introduced through the coin insert slit 22, the liquid flows in the housing 11 of the coin selector 10 along the bottom 90a of the cover 90 in the allow-marked direction as seen in FIG. 15. Once the viscous liquid such as a detergent solution or the like is received in the housing 11, it adheres to a driving unit such as a solenoid (not shown) for actuating the coin distributing lever 58. For this reason, there is a possibility that the driving unit is incorrectly operated whereby a selecting function of the coin selector 10 is degraded. Another problem is that there is a possibility that operation of each coin selecting component is undesirably locked when the viscous liquid adhering to the respective coin selecting components is dried with the result that a function of the coin selector 10 itself is interrupted.